Fold away iron holder



sept. 15, 1959 B, A, GRAHAM 29o4,2"96

FOLD AWAY IRON HOLDER Filed March 6, 1957 mmm INVENTOR. BERT A.I GRAHAM@jew/m OIM ATTORNEY Stres The present invention 4relates generally asindicated to a fold-away iron holder and more particularly to a holderdesigned to 'be mounted on an ironing board.'

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a fold-away -ironholder which may be quickly and easily mounted on an ironing board andwhich, when not in use, may be folded to relatively at condition in aplane parallel to the surface of the ironing board.

It lis another object of this invention to provide a foldaway ironholder that is provided with rubber bumpers or feetV upon which theironing board may be stood up on end when stowed away.

It is another object of this invention to provide a foldaway iron holderwhich, in its unfolded operating position, Iis adapted to support aniron in generally upstanding position and which may be indexed to any ofseveral desired positions so that the person who is ironing mayconveniently do so from either side of the ironing board.

It is another object of this invention to provide a foldaway iron holderwhich safely holds the iron and prevents falling thereof by jarring orvibration of the ironing board.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a fold-away ironholder which is especially useful in connection with steam irons thatrequire to be set aside in upright position to prevent the escape ofsteam, the present holder being operative to so support the iron withits nose at the top and its heel at the bottom.

It is another object of this invention to provide a foldaway iron holderwhich is provided with an adjustable retainer to accommodate differentsizes and types of irons.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a fold-away ironholder that is designed to prevent excessive heating of the holder whilethe heated iron is supported thereby.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrativeembodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but oneof the varous ways in which the principle of the invention may beemployed.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of the present iron holder showing the same inits folded condition and showing in dot dash lines two operatingpositions to which it may be indexed for working from either side of theironing board to which said holder is adapted to be clamped;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view showing the holder in its folded awaycondition;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation view as viewed from the righthand side ofFig. 2, the ironing board having been omitted;

tet

2,904,296 Patented Sept. 15, 1959 ICC Fig. 4 is an elevation viewshowing the holder in its unfolded operating position, as viewed alongthe line 4 4, Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-section View, on enlarged scale, takensubstantially along the line 5 5, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a cross-section view taken substantially along the line 6 6,Fig. 5.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the iron holder hereincomprises a channel-shaped clamp 1, having a pair of relatively widelyspaced apart threaded extrusions 2 in which thumb screws 3 are inthreaded engagement. Each screw 3 has rotatably and detachably mountedthereon a disc 4 adapted to engage the bottom surface of an ironingboa-rd B to which said clamp 1 is adapted to be secured, as shown inFig. 2, for example. The screws 3 are sufficiently long so that theclamp 1 may be secured to metal ironing boards as well as to those madeof wood or other material. The bottom flange of said clamp 1 is providedwith an outer pair of screw-threaded extrusions 2 with which the thumbscrews 3 may be engaged, as in instances when the ironing board hasreenforcing members or other structural elements which would bein theway when the thumb screws 3 are mounted in the inner pair of extrusions2.

Said clamp 1 has secured to the web thereof a pair of rubber buttons 5so that the ironing board B with the holder attached may be stored awayby standing upright and resting upon said rubber buttons or feet 5.

The holder 6, Vwhen in its unfolded operating condition as shown in Fig.4 (and in dotted lines in Fig. 5) is of generally L-shaped formincluding a heel retainer 7 formed with upstanding side flanges 8 andend ange 9 in which the heel of an iron I lits, and an upright sole andtoe retainer 10, tilted back 10-15, lformed with side retain acompression spring 15 which yieldably draws the retainer assemblydownward against clamp 1.

The parts 7 and y10 of the hol-der 6 are hingedly con-l nected togetherby rivets 18 or the like through the overlapping side flanges 3 and 11of said parts whereby the sole and toe retainer 10 may be swung down toa position above and generally parallel =to the ironing board as shownin Figs. l, 2 and 3.

When the iron holder 6 is to be used the retainer 10 is swung to theposition shown in Fig. 4 (dotted line position of Fig. 5), or the loweredge of said retainer engaging the strap 12 to serve as a positive stopso that said retainer 10 will be disposed in upwardly extending positionslightly inclined from vertical, preferably 10 to 15 -for example.

With the retainer 10 thus swung to operating position ythe closelycoiled wire spring 19 that extends across the upper ends of side ilanges11 serves to support hold toe portion of the iron I. As best shown inFigs. 2 and 4 a series of openings 20 are provided in such anges 11 toenable shifting of said spring 19 to different longitudinal positions toaccommodate different sizes of irons. Thus, it is seen Ithat it is avery simple matter to insert and remove the iron I from the holder 6just by positioning the pointed nose under the spring 19 and slippingthe heel down in the recess formed by the lianges 8 and 9 of theretainer 7.

The retainer 10 adjacent its upper end is preferably formed withrecesses 21 which serve to hold the heated sole plate of the iron I outof contact with the retainer proper to preventV excessive heating ofsaid retainer during use.

The present holder is easy to install just by positioning theclamplofpthe holder 6 over the blunt end of an ironing .board YBV asshown in Fig."2 ,ar`id tightening the thumb screws 3. Whe'n' the holder6 is in the folded away condition,rasshownrin Figs. 1 to 3, it will soremain inr view`ofthe engagement of the tongue A16 of the strapl 12 in,the middlefone of the three openings 17 in'the top tlange of theclamp 1. When it is desired-to use the holder 6V for supporting an ironinV substantially upright-r position, asshown'in Fig."4, all that thehousewife need do is to raise thelholder assembly 6A to disengage the ta pin that, extendsdownwardly through said lianges adtongue |116 fromthe middle hole.17,1'en'rotatethe holder assembly 6 until the tongue, 16drops down into the deSiredone of the other-two holes A1'7, dependingfrom which side of the ironing board-B the housewife wishesto iron.Theretainer th'en'is swung upwardlyv about the rivets 18 t'o-itsupn'ght, slightly tilted position, where-Y upon. the toe of the iron Imay be positioned under the closely coiled spring 19 and the heel swungin and tted.

into the heel retainer A7. This'rmly holdsthe iron I in substantiallyAupright position wherebyin the case of steam irons the escape of steam.is'preventedand when it isdesired to.re1r1oveA the iron for use, it.is,asimple matter to swing outtthe heel and disengagethe toe from underneaththe spring 19. j

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention maybe employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeaturesstated in any .of the following claims,or the equivalent ofsuch, .be employed.

I therefore'particularly.V point out and-distinctly claim as myinvention:

l1. A fold-away iron holder comprising-an L-shaped.

holder disposed to support an ironin genera1lynpright position, a clampadapted toV be secured to one-endof an ironing board, said holder andclampV being secured together for pivotal movement of the former about avertical'axis. toprovide ready access to the iron from either side ofthe ironing board,. and said holder comprising a heel retainer partproviding a recess `to embrace the heel yof jacent the web of said clampto form -a pivot for Vsaid holder; said holder comprising a heelretainer secured to the upper end of said pin and formed with upstandingflanges to embrace the heel of an iron, and an upstanding base retainerformed with side flanges to embrace the sides of the baseof an iron,said base retainer at its lower end being hinged to said heel retainer.for swinging from upstandingposition to a generally horizontal posi-Vtion andbeing provided with a stop engaging said heel retainer toposition said base retainer in tilted, upstanding an iron and anupwardly extending part Vthat are hinged together about ahorizontalaxisfor swingingv of said upwardly extending part to a4 generally.horizontal position above the ironing1board, saidpartsfbeing formedwith complementary stop meansV arranged to.4 provide forswingingof-.said yupwardly extending par@ from horizontal` positionto atilted: position beyond Vertical position positionwherebysaidbaseretainer remains in iron holding position by its own weightandby the weightof the iron.

4. The giron holder' of claim 3 wherein an elastic mem-.

berextends across the sideanges of said base retainer adjacent its upperend to extend over the nose of an iron to hold the iron in place on saidholder.

5. The iron holder of claim 3 wherein said heel retainer is formed witha downwardly extending tongue that is engageable in any selectedone of aplurality of openings in said top flange of said clamp for retainingsaid holder in a predetermined rotary position with respect to saidclamp.

6. The iron holder of claim 5. wherein spring means.

are provided to yieldably hold said tongue in engagement with theselected opening.

RefereucesCited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 416,755Schoenike Dec. 10, 1889 1,232,690 Keenan July 10, 1917 2,201,598Towler-4 May-21, 1940 f 2,311,928 f f Buehler Feb. 23, 1943 FOREIGNPATENTS 1,087,599` France; Aug. .25, 1954

